Council Tax Premium on Caravan Pitches and Boat Moorings — Class K Exception Explained

If your council tax bill covers a caravan pitch on a holiday park or a boat mooring at a marina, the 100% second home premium does not apply to you. Class K of the Council Tax (Prescribed Classes of Dwellings and Consequential Amendments) (England) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/1007) provides a mandatory exception — and it has no time limit.

The logic is simple: caravan pitches and moorings were never intended to function as conventional residential dwellings. Parliament recognised that applying a premium designed to discourage empty second homes would be disproportionate when the "dwelling" is a pitch or berth rather than a house.

What Class K Covers

Class K excepts from the Section 11C second home premium any chargeable dwelling that consists of a caravan pitch or a boat mooring. The dwelling must be listed on the council tax valuation list as a pitch or mooring — not as a conventional residential property.

This covers:

• Static caravan pitches on licensed holiday parks or residential parks where each pitch has its own council tax band
• Touring caravan pitches listed individually on the valuation list (less common, but it happens on some permanent sites)
• Boat moorings at marinas, canal basins, or river berths that carry a separate council tax assessment

Class K is a second-homes-only exception. It applies to the Section 11C premium, not the Section 11B empty homes premium. If a pitch or mooring is empty and unfurnished, Class K does not block a Section 11B premium.

How to Know If Your Pitch or Mooring Qualifies

The critical factor is how the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has listed the dwelling. If your council tax bill describes the property as a pitch, a mooring, or a berth — and the VOA's council tax valuation list records it as such — Class K applies automatically.

You can check the VOA's listing for your property at the GOV.UK "Find your council tax band" service. Search by postcode or address and look at how the entry is described. If it's listed as a pitch or mooring with its own valuation band, Class K should protect it.

Problems arise when:

• The VOA lists the structure rather than the pitch — Some static caravans are assessed as individual dwellings rather than pitches, especially larger twin-unit caravans on residential sites. If the VOA treats it as a dwelling rather than a pitch, Class K may not apply
• The mooring includes a permanent structure — A houseboat moored at a permanent berth might be assessed as a dwelling in its own right, removing it from Class K territory

If there's any doubt about how your property is classified, contact the VOA to clarify the listing. The distinction between a pitch assessment and a dwelling assessment is the dividing line for Class K.

Applying for the Exception

Contact the billing authority that issued your council tax bill. Provide:

• Your council tax account reference
• The property address as listed on your bill
• Confirmation that the dwelling is a caravan pitch or boat mooring, with any council tax assessment or pitch/mooring agreement that identifies it as such

Some councils apply Class K automatically when they can see from the VOA listing that the property is a pitch or mooring. Others require you to claim it. Either way, if you're being charged a premium and the property is clearly a pitch or mooring, challenge it.

Class K has no time limit. If the premium has been applied since April 2025, request backdating and a refund for any premium charged in error.

What If You're on a Holiday Park?

Holiday park owners with static caravans are the group most likely to face confusion. Here's how the different exceptions interact:

• Class K applies if the VOA lists your property as a caravan pitch
• Class L applies if a planning condition prevents occupation for a continuous period of at least 28 days in any one-year period, restricts the dwelling to holiday use only, or prohibits occupation as a sole or main residence
• The business rates route applies if the caravan meets the VOA's tests: 140 nights of availability and 70 nights actually let in the preceding 12 months, plus availability for 140 nights in the coming 12 months

You may qualify under more than one exception. Class K is the simplest to establish — it depends on the VOA classification, not on what you do with the property.

For a complete walkthrough of all nine statutory exceptions, evidence checklists, and appeal procedures, our Second Home Council Tax Premium guide covers every class from E through M.

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